Heart disease health centre

Does occasional binge drinking raise heart risks?

By Sophie Ramsey

BMJ Group News

What do we know already?

The relationship between alcohol and heart disease is a confusing one. On the one hand, we know that heavy drinkers have a higher risk of heart problems. And studies show that binge drinking (consuming a lot of alcohol on one occasion) may also boost this risk. But on the other hand, research shows that light-to-moderate drinkers actually have a lower risk of heart disease, which begs a question: if a light-to-moderate drinker occasionally binge drinks, do they have a raised risk of heart problems as well?

To find out, researchers interviewed 26,786 men and women in Denmark about how much alcohol they’d consumed each day of the previous week. Using health records, the researchers followed the participants for an average of about seven years to see whether they developed heart disease. The participants’ average age was 45.

The researchers defined light-to-moderate drinking as having no more than 21 drinks of alcohol per week for men, and no more than 14 for women. Binge drinking was defined as having more than five drinks in one day.

One drink was defined as one beer or one glass of wine with approximately 12 grams of alcohol. This is more than a UK unit, which is 8 grams of alcohol. In the UK, the weekly limits for light-to-moderate drinkers are 28 units for men and 21 units for women.

What does the new study say?

Among participants of all drinking levels, 15 in 100 reported binge drinking. But this proportion rose considerably when researchers looked only at light-to-moderate drinkers. Notably, among men who drank 14 to 21 drinks per week, 60 in 100 binged, as did 35 in 100 women who drank seven to 14 drinks per week. The average number of drinks per binge was nine for men and seven for women.

When researchers compared light-to-moderate drinkers who binged with those who did not, they found that the chance of developing heart disease was about the same, suggesting that bingeing didn’t increase people’s risk.

How reliable is the research?

The study was large and well-conducted, with the researchers taking account of several things that can affect a person’s risk of heart disease, including whether they smoked, were physically active, had high blood pressure or diabetes, or were overweight or obese. But we still need to be cautious about its findings for a couple of reasons.

First, the participants were interviewed only about how much they’d drank over one week, so this may not have reflected their usual drinking habits. For example, some people may have binged regularly, while others did so rarely.

Also, some people might not have been entirely open about their drinking, particularly if they felt the interviewer would view them negatively if they’d had a lot to drink.

It’s also worth noting that the study’s definition of binge drinking - consuming more than five drinks in a day - is quite broad and leaves room for different drinking patterns, with potentially different risks. For example, consuming more than five drinks in a short period on an empty stomach would have a larger impact on the body, and possibly the heart, than drinking the same amount over many hours, while eating food.